A True Middle Tennessee Story — Built on Craft, Culture, and Calling
We didn’t grow up in Murfreesboro.
I’m from Fayetteville, Georgia — raised on family, faith, and the kind of values that stay with you no matter where life takes you. After high school, I felt a pull to step out on my own, to grow beyond what I knew. That pull led me to Tennessee State University, where I earned my degree in electrical engineering and unknowingly took the first steps toward something much bigger.
College is where coffee first found me.
Not in some dramatic moment — just in the quiet corners of small Nashville cafés where I’d study, think, and breathe. Something about the ritual stuck. After graduation, when I entered my career, that curiosity grew. I experimented with brewing methods, explored different roasts, and eventually wandered into the world of tea. I started with bagged blends, then moved into loose leaf, where I began crafting my own combinations.
That’s when the love for the craft took root.
Around that same time, I shared this growing passion with my girlfriend — who grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. She understood the culture, the rhythm, the creativity of this place in a way only a Nashville native can. And she didn’t just appreciate the craft — she embraced it. She created her own blends, her own flavors, her own rituals. What started as something small between us became a shared language.
We’d talk about ideas.
We’d dream out loud.
And every now and then, the name “Bodega” would surface — warm, familiar, cultural, full of life. Every time it came up, it felt right. It felt like home. It felt like us.
We didn’t rush it.
We studied. We learned. We respected the craft. We honored the people who came before us. And somewhere along the way, it stopped being a hobby and became a calling — something we were meant to build together.
A Georgia kid who found his way to Tennessee.
A Nashville native with creativity in her bones.
Two paths crossing in the right place at the right time.
That’s how Bodega was born.
Out of love for coffee.
Out of respect for tea.
Out of appreciation for essentials, style, ritual, and culture.
Out of a belief that community deserves something crafted with intention.
We built Bodega for the people — for the ones who savor the moment, who appreciate the details, who find comfort in the ritual and joy in the craft. We built it for Middle Tennessee, for Murfreesboro, for Nashville, for every place that shaped us and every person who believes in creating something meaningful.
Bodega is more than a brand.
It’s our story.
It’s a community story.
It’s a calling.
For the community.
By the community.
Always.